London 2012 Olympics: Locog's ticketing system comes in for rare praise from happy Games-goers

The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games was left breathing a huge
sigh of relief after its much-maligned ticketing system handled the
challenge posed to it by a maximum of 20,000 eligible applicants logging on
for the third round of sales on Friday morning.

Brave new world: those Olympic fans lucky enough to get tickets to the Olympic Stadium will be able to gaze in wonder, or complete bafflement, at the ArcelorMittal Orbit sculpturePhoto: GETTY IMAGES

The Olympics website has repeatedly failed under the stress of high demand and with 928,000 of the most highly-prized tickets up for grabs, including those to the men’s 100 metre final and the opening ceremony, there were fears it would once again succumb to the pressures of above-average web traffic.

But the exclusive 31-hour window, open only to those who failed to secure tickets in either of the two previous public sales rounds, began with relatively few complaints and a number of success stories.

Readers contacted Telegraph Sport with largely positive accounts of their experience, suggesting goodwill towards Locog and its ticketing process is beginning to return, reward for their decision to prioritise those without tickets.

Chris James, from Devon, was one of the 20,000, known to Locog as “Fans 2606” on account of the date they were sent emails by the body, and approached the sales period with dread.

But he has since revised his opinion of Locog and its chairman, Lord Coe.

“The sales began at 11am and three minutes later I had bought my dream tickets [for the men’s keirin final, women’s omnium final and women’s sprint final, which could bring three golds],” he said.

“Credit where credit is due. I’ve been critical up until now, but this has worked well. Well done Seb.”

The initial window closes at 6pm on Saturday and on Friday night Locog said it was happy with how the sales had proceeded.

It promised to update the public on how many Olympic tickets, and in what sports, are left before the one million people who failed to get a ticket in the first round of the UK public ballot, but who did not pursue tickets during the ‘second chance’ sales period, are allowed access at whatever remains.

James and the other members of Fans 2606 were restricted to purchasing a maximum of four tickets for one session but are likely to have snapped up the most sought-after tickets, especially those for smaller venues such as the Aquatics Centre and the Velodrome, when sales reopen tomorrow at 11am.

Locog is staggering the sales of these remaining tickets over five days, with different sports sold on different days, to spread out demand but even with Friday's positive feedback ringing in its ears it believes the sternest test of its ticketing system will come over the next week.

Any tickets unsold during this period will go back on general sale from May 23 at 11am.